Memory and Human Aging By Andrew Finelli Did you ever notice that as people get older they start forgetting more and more things, like where they had just placed their keys or how many eggs are needed to make a cake batter? Minor memory loss may not be life-altering but what happens if you start forgetting important things like turning off the stove or locking your door at night? That could become a real problem. Since some memory-loss diseases like Dementia and Alzheimer’s present themselves most often in later life1, we can infer that memory loss is somewhat age-related. According to the National Center for Health Statistics, life expectancy is continually increasing.2 With a persistently aging society it is necessary to better understand limitations in a person’s ability to function as they age. For instance, the ability to perform everyday tasks such as cooking dinner or driving a car suddenly becomes a safety issue. For this reason it is important to find out if age itself has a negative affect on memory and if so, why. Then scientists can work to find ways to prevent and/or reverse the affects of the aging process. My experiment will attempt to isolate age as a determining factor in memory loss. The organisms that will be used in this experiment will be ****-sapiens of varying ages and genders. My decision to use human test subjects is three-fold. First, they are readily accessible. Any person in the world can be a test subject for this experiment, as long as they have not been diagnosed with a memory impairment disease (perceived healthy). Secondly, the goal of my experiment is to test human memory, so any other organism would not be as relevant. Lastly, humans are communicative so it is easier for me to get results from them. A human possesses the ability to correspond directly and tell what they can and can’t remember. Other experiments using humans include one done on exercise affecting memory. Professor Nicola Lautenschlager (2008) found results that the more active you are the better your memory becomes. These results were attributed to several factors. One finding is that the more you exercise the less tissue you lose. Another finding is that the more weight you lose, the easier it is to regulate glucose levels, which also contributes to better memory.3 I am not overly concerned about the ethics surrounding humans as test subjects as my tests are non-invasive, do not compromise the subjects’ well-being and adhere to the regulations guiding scientific experiments on humans as I will obtain informed consent from each individual chosen to participate in my experiment.4 According to research done by Richard C. Mohs, Ph.D., Vice Chairman of the Department of Psychiatry at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine, it is not the brain or the nerve cells that control our memory retrieval. It is, in fact, the connections between those cells, called synapses, which begin to diminish and 1http://www.alz.org/alzheimers_disease_causes_risk_factors.asp 2http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/pressroom/03news/lifeex.htm 3http://www.mdhs.unimelb.edu.au/news/walking_away_memory_problems 4http://cphs.berkeley.edu/content/overview.htm make us unable to recall our thoughts as we age. Also there are several vital parts of the brain susceptible to aging such as the hippocampus, which looses up to 20% of its nerve cells by the time your in your 80’s. In addition, your brain itself shrinks as you get older. There are also other factors which can contribute to memory loss such as genetics and/or exposure to specific drugs or alcholism.5 According to Margaret Winker, MD,(2008) several other things can make you susceptible to memory loss in old age including stroke, infection, thyroid disease, vitamin B12 deficiency and depression.6 Based on the findings of these medical professionals, my hypothesis is that age and the factors related to age are contributory to memory loss despite other lifestyle factors. In my experiment I will be testing a total of 20 people. These test subjects will range in age between younger than 200, to 60 and over. The test subjects will be grouped into the following intervals according to age: under 20, 20 to 39, 40 to 59 and 60+. My procedure is as follows: 1.Identify 100 healthy people(25 people in each defined age segment) 2.Obtain informed consent from each test subject. 3.Create a stable environment (I.e. No distractions) in which to test the subjects. 4.Create a list of 20 obscure facts. 5.Create a test about these facts.. 6.Hand each person an identical list of obscure facts for review. 7.Allow the test subjects 5 minutes to study the list. 8.At the end of the ten-minute interval collect fact sheets from subjects. 9.Administer test questions based on the fact sheet. 10.Give the test subjects a maximum of 10 min to take the test. 11.Collect the tests from the subjects 12.Score the test based on the number of questions answered correctly. 13.Chart the results of all test subjects 14.Calculate the average score by age segment as well as bottom line total average. 15.Compare the interval averages against that of the entire test group to identify the difference versus the “norm”. The use of obscure facts ensures that the results are based on memory and not knowledge. The tests will be scored and the results will be based on the average correct answers of each of the age groups. I conducted my research and the findings supported my hypothesis. The people tested gave results that we predicted in my hypothesis. The younger subject, namely the under twenty group, produced very high results on the test. The older subjects, namely the sixty and over group, scored much lower than the younger group. The results also showed a correlation between the subjects’ age and their memorization skills. As the age of the subjects increased, the amount of facts that they memorized decreased. I also realized that as the age of the subjects increased, the fluxuation between their scores increased. For example 5http://health.howstuffworks.com/human-memory4.htm 6http://www.americangeriatrics.org/education/forum/memoloss.shtml the under twenty group had scores in the same basic area (ranging from 16-18 correct for each) while the group of forty to fifty-nine produced more widely varying results (ranging from 9-18 correct). These results were expected from my own prediction. Although some of the outliers surprised me. The Results of the older subject did surprise me however. The switch between the groups of twenty to thirty-nine and forty to fifty-nine produced a gigantic change. The scores just dropped dramatically between these two groups. I also did not expect to see so many high scoring subjects over the age of forty. Even some of the sixty and over subjects got as many as 17 facts correctly memorized. These results may have been dependent on how often the subject uses intensive thought processing and how frequently they engage in challenging critical contemplation. Bibliography 1. "Risk Factors." Alzheimer's Association. alzheimer's Association. 9 Oct 2008 <http://www.alz.org/alzheimers_disease_causes_risk_factors.asp>. 2. HHS Study Finds Life Expectancy in the U.S. Rose to 77.2 Years in 2001." Department of disease control and prevention. Friday, March 14, 2003. U.S. department of health and human services, center for disease control and prevention. 9 Oct 2008 <http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/pressroom/03news/lifeex.htm>. 3. Lautenschlager, Nicola. "Walking away memory problems." The University of Melbourne. September 3, 2008. The University of Melbourne. 9 Oct 2008 <http://www.mdhs.unimelb.edu.au/news/walking_away_memory_problems>. 4. "Protecting human research subjects." University of California, Berkeley. University of California, Berkeley. 9 Oct 2008 <http://cphs.berkeley.edu/content/overview.htm>. 5. Mohs, Richard. "How human memory works." HowStuffWorks. 2008. Howstuffworks, Inc.. 9 Oct 2008 <http://health.howstuffworks.com/human-memory4.htm>. 6. Winker, Margaret . "Memory Loss- Should I be Concerned." The American Geriatric Society. 2008. American Geriatric society. 9 Oct 2008 <http://www.americangeriatrics.org/education/forum/memoloss.shtml>. Btw if you read this whole thing...you need a life!
Oh I see what you did there, you tricky little bugger =D EDIT: Just a side note, if you actually want people to read all that bollocks then don't center it. It makes it hard to keep track of where you are reading and just looks plain unappealing. Use the code instead. Perhaps even use it twice to make it look easier to read. This is why Newspapers have their articles in long columns instead of short fat blots. P.S. I didn't read a word of what you've written [if you couldn't tell already, and if you couldn't... You're a moron]
Good research paper, it looks solid. The only thing that comes to mind as I read it is that memory can improve with exercise, that should be a factor. Reyn, has anyone ever told you how antagonizing you are? lol I know. ZgreenZ, the bibliography is important, for reasons you may understand one day.